#USA, February 17, 2021 – Not to be outdone, American Covid-19 has since August 2020 been morphing in order to survive and spread and now seven new variants of itself are created; appearing in at least 30 States and taking on the names of birds for easier distinction.
The Q677P
mutation impacts a crucial spike protein of the virus, informed a Forbes.com
report by Dr. Robert Glatter. The news article published on Monday February 15
also said due to a lack of peer review, the analysis of the variants is
conservative though the suspicion is these new variations will be found to be
more contagious.
The advent
of another crop of more contagious COVID could spell disaster for our friends
and family in the US just as the country is experiencing a downward trend in
new cases. It also has the potential to
threaten travel once again; the last string of variants elicited border
closures and tougher measures for returning air passengers.
In a
string of media reports, the world is learning of the mutations and how
broadening genomic surveillance will be the truest gauge of the effect of Robin
1, Robin 2, Yellowhammer, Pelican, Bluebird, Quail and Mockingbird.
From the
article: “Robin 1 has now been seen in more than 30 states in
the U.S., mostly in the Midwest. Robin
2 appeared in early October from a sample in Alabama, confined
mainly to the southeastern U.S. Another lineage, named Pelican, was initially identified
in a sample from Oregon, but has later been found in 12 additional U.S states
as well as in Europe (Denmark and Switzerland), Australia, as well as in India.
Pelican was the first sub-lineage or variant of
particular interest to the researchers because it was found in close to 28% of
viral samples from Louisiana, and 11% from New Mexico. The remainder of the
Q677P sub-lineages each have less than 100 genetic sequences including Yellowhammer, predominately in the
southeastern U.S, Bluebird, in the
northeast U.S., Quail found
in the southwest and northeast, and Mockingbird,
located predominately in southcentral and east coast states.”
Almost
five percent of the samples collected at GISAID between August 2020 and
February 2021 have been the new variants; a total of 2,327.
One
expert, Vaugh Cooper, has offered to CNN that the mutation is particularly
worrisome because it is in the region of
the novel coronavirus spike protein which is key for how contagious the virus
actually becomes.
Some 27.8
million Americans have been diagnosed with Covid19 and as vaccination roll out
lags behind spread of the virus, it becomes a concern with the United States as
the leading and in many respects the only source market for the Caribbean
region including the Turks and Caicos Islands.
